


A Dark Outcome

by Izzu



Category: BBC Drama, Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-09-30
Packaged: 2017-11-15 09:06:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/525605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzu/pseuds/Izzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Waters of Mars. Had Adelaide not killed herself to give the Doctor his own bitter pill, what kind of dark outcome would have been the path taken by the Doctor?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dark Outcome

**Author's Note:**

> Runs along the same muse as Nightmares. Kinda timey wimey in a way. I sorta lost Rose's voice somewhere down there and made her sound a bit like Amy somehow. Gonna try fixing it.

“ _For a long time I thought I was just a survivor, but I'm not. I'm the winner. That's who I am. The Time Lord Victorious.”_ “

“ _This is wrong, Doctor. I don't care who you are. The Time Lord Victorious is wrong.”_

The Doctor smiled as he watched Adelaide Brooks entered her house. The snow kept falling as he turned towards his TARDIS.

_Yes, he was not just a survivor. He's a winner. The Law of Time is his to control. And he can just do whatever he wants!_

From the corner of his eyes, he missed seeing Ood Sigma—no, he intentionally _ignored_ him—as he got into his blue box. He didn't even bother checking if his interference this time; changing Adelaide's fate, changes the world drastically. Because anything wrong he should be able to do something about it. He closed the door behind him, immediately going towards the command console; charting his next destination towards the one place he thought he would not be able to go again.

_He will come for Rose and bring her back with him. He will change his destiny... he will not die after some stupid four knocks._

The TARDIS gave out a loud groan as he started piloting the ship towards his intended destination. Either it was in protest over what he was doing or because of the difficulty of punching through the walls of the universe, he didn't bother to know. All that was inside his mind was that image of Rose. Welcoming him back. This time, he would really speak aloud what he thought about her.

 _But didn't his other self already—_ He brushed the thoughts aside. Did it matter? Back then Rose had something to say as well. _He was not him_. Yes, telling her openly this time would still make the difference.

He and Rose would be together again, yes... like they were _meant_ to be. Whatever obstacles they may face onwards would not be hard for him to overcome. He was after all... Time Lord Victorious!

The TARDIS gave a violent shake as they finally arrived. Smiling triumphantly, the Doctor walked out of his ship to find himself back at Bad Wolf Bay. He did it. That should be proof that he was indeed the winner...

"You're not supposed to be here."

He turned around to see his double—no, the man standing before him right now looked a lot different than the last time he saw him. He looked slightly younger, much younger than before... much more human than he could have thought _he_ was capable of being.

He snorted. What was the chance of his other half to be able to locate him just as he arrive to this world? He looked up, noticing the _bad weather_ as he turned back towards the other man.

"You're in the _wrong_ universe!" he spoke again. "You don't belong here! Get back to your rightful place!"

_Wrong universe? He was one to talk._

The Doctor smiled. "Why not?" the Doctor said. "If I don't belong here there were also some other people that do not belong here as well!"

He could see the man was taken aback from his words. Served him right to act so _honourable_.

"What are you doing here? You _can't_ be here! You're not _supposed_ to! Forcing your way into another universe like this will tear _this_ world apart!"

The Doctor glanced again towards the sky. No... his other half was over-exaggerating the situation. He's not doing anything that would cause that much destruction; he would just take Rose away and leave this world and back into his own and close the breach. There's nothing to it.

"On whose authority are you making that claim? I am the last of the Time Lords! The law of time and space are mine to control! If I want to come here by my own choice, then so be it."

Plus, if anything _did_ go wrong he'd find a way to fix it. No problemo.

The other man shook his head. "No, this isn't right! You're tearing this world apart, I can't let you do what you liked. I'll stop you!"

Something about that tone of voice just grated on him. "You? Stop me? On what grounds? You're not even a full Time Lord!”

It seemed that his other half was still so stubborn to stand on his way.

"I may only be just half a Time Lord compared to you but right now I feel that I'm _more_ of a Time Lord than you could ever be. What happened to you? What changed? You're not like this in the past, you _know_ the rules! You're not _supposed_ to do something like this!"

He frowned at his other half. _He_ was _more_ of a Time Lord than himself? What nonsense? And yes, _something_ had changed. He was tired of losing the people that he cared about. No more! Yes, he _knew_ of the rules... but what did following those rules did for him?

Every single time... every single thing that he'd done, had he ever received a proper reward for it? Oh yes, he _did_ at times... but most of them came with horrible consequences. He lost count of how many companions he had lost, those that left or slipped away from him. Those who _died_. He would not continue living as if he still had something owed to the ones that perished. He shall not continue feeling guilty over himself for being the only one that survived!

“I was wrong. I'm not just a survivor, I'm the winner! Everyone else is dead but not me. Who else would be watching over the rules; there's no one left—I'll be making the rules now, the laws of time shall bend to my will!”

He would not let himself lose anyone ever again! He would not let this curse of being the last Time Lord dictate how he should run his life any longer!

He glared towards his other half as the man gave him a pitying look. “What do you want anyway... coming here?”

The Doctor could not help snorting at that. “What did you think I wanted here? I came back for Rose!”

“All of this, just to get Rose? Do you not care what happens to all of the threads of reality? Do you not care if doing this would destroy this world? Did you not care if this was _not_ what Rose would have wanted?”

_Not what she wanted? What nonsense..._

“Why do you think Rose would not have wanted this?” he answered back. “How can you be sure that this is not what Rose would have wanted? Getting back to me? And leaving __you__ behind?”

A part of him felt smug at the horrible things that came out of his mouth. Because that was what it was all about. It's not that his other half was that noble and thinking about preserving the balance of the universe. It's because he wanted to keep Rose to himself! _He_ knew that if Rose was here she would come with him and not stay. _Well, sucks to be you._

“This is still _wrong_. You should not be allowed to continue with this foolishness!”

_Foolishness?_

“And how would you stop me?” he asked, daring his other half to make his move. Unexpectedly, _he_ pulled out a gun and aimed it towards him. The Doctor laughed. “Are you sure you're even capable of killing me?”

“I'm not. But at this range, I should be able to hurt you enough to force you to regenerate. Maybe after that, you'll finally regain some sense into that head of yours! And even if you still won't change your mind, there's enough bullets in this gun to kill you before you even manage to regenerate yourself!”

The Doctor frowned. True enough, if he suffered enough damage that could prove fatal to him he would not even have time to regenerate. And he would just die like any other creature. Yet...

“No, you won't.” said the Doctor, shaking his head. “You won't have the courage to do that. Do that, and Rose would hate you for it,”

He would talk about Rose. Because knowing himself he would not want to do anything that could hurt Rose. And Rose _loved_ him.

“If that was the price I have to take, so be it. I did not hesitate when I killed all those Daleks last time, why should I hesitate now? If that was all that I needed to do to protect the balance of the world? No... I shall not hesitate if everything that matters depended on the choice that I have to do. No matter the toll that it would take from me.”

The man had a nerve to smile at him smugly. “Wasn't that _why_ you sent me to Pete's world anyway? Because I was born out of war and fire and rage? Because I was _too_ _dangerous_?”

This meta-crisis _copy_ of him was getting at his nerve. How dare he talk to him like this. He was just... a _copy_ , a clone. A freak accident that came about from his severed hand! The Doctor fingered his sonic inside his pocket and started tweaking its setting...

“Why don't I just dispense with all of that and kill  _you_? You're after all, just a __copy__ of me.”

His _copy_ started talking again to try taunting him again. But before he could finish his sentence the Doctor fished out his sonic and pointed it towards the man. In that brief moment, he managed to transmit a supersonic shockwave and hurled it towards the _copy_. The man was thrown against a rocky cove behind them as the Doctor watched the man spat out blood.

The gun the clone was holding flew out of his hand as the Doctor took it. An amused snicker caught his attention as the Doctor turned to see his clone smiling at him.

“Didn't expect that coming. You really _have_ changed!”

The Doctor turned the gun towards him as the clone looked back at him, calmly.

“Go on, shoot me. You win.”

The Doctor frowned at this as he stared down towards his clone. That was unexpected. After all the fighting spirit his clone had shown to him earlier, he would just give up now? He tightened his grip as he fired the first shot. His clone's body immediately stiffened up as the bullet went through his heart.

“No!”

Another voice broke the silence as the Doctor turned around. Seeing the lone figure running towards him, he felt a sudden surge of joy. The Doctor didn't even pay attention as the body behind him collapsed to the ground.

He immediately walked up towards Rose as he grabbed her arm with his free hand.

“Rose, Rose... it all right. Everything's gonna be all right—”

Rose did not seem to have noticed his presence as she started struggling and pushing him away. “No! You killed him! You killed my Joh—!” she started screaming as Rose finally looked up to see his face. The Doctor smiled.

“Hello Rose...” he said, almost casually.

Rose continued staring at him with shock before turning her head towards the dead figure and back towards him.

“Doctor?” she asked as he kept smiling.

“Yes... this is me. In the flesh.”

He thought Rose would be glad to see him again but the reaction that came after caught him by surprise.

“You shot him. You shot _John_... why?”

“Does it matter? I'm back, we'll be together again. I'll take you out from this place and bring you back home. You like that... right?”

Rose pulled her hand from his grip roughly, before turning to rush towards the fallen figure. She lifted his body to her lap and started to check for his vital signs. He frowned as he noticed a slight change in Rose's posture as she glared up towards him.

“You killed him! What had he done so bad that you have to kill him?”

The Doctor shrugged. “We had an argument,”

“And you had to shoot him to end it?” she asked accusingly before placing the body gently on the ground. She stood up. “Who are you? You can't be the Doctor; the Doctor wouldn't do this. _Who_ exactly are YOU?”

“I _am_ the Doctor. The real one. Rose... it will be all right, let's leave this place. We'll start a new adventure together... like we always talked about before.”

Rose shook her head as she pulled out her own gun towards him. “No, you're not _him_. You're not the Doctor I once knew.”

The Doctor started to walk towards her as Rose shook her gun towards him, threateningly. “Rose, calm down. This is not how it should be between us,”

Rose's eyes started glistening with tears. “You've changed.” she started to say. “How could you kill him, how could you kill John? The gentlest... kindest person... the man who was almost exactly like the old you, the Doctor who I used to love! Where did that man have gone to?”

“He's here... he's back here for you,” said the Doctor again as Rose shook her head again.

“No... _we're_ supposed to be able to live happily ever after. Together. John and me. How could you do this... Doctor?”

 _I hate you_...

Alarms suddenly shot up in his head as the Doctor tried to take away Rose's gun from her. They struggled and by an odd twist, a trigger was pulled. The Doctor stepped back in horror as Rose lifted her hand to reveal her own blood. Rose collapsed beside John's body before smiling softly. The Doctor hurried to her side to try closing the wound on her stomach.

“Rose... no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—” he started to say as Rose looked up towards him again.

“Ah... finally you came back...” she started to say before her body went limp. Right at that moment, the weight of the things he had done started to crash onto him.

The Doctor shook as he looked down again to see that Rose was truly dead. Turning towards his other half, he started lifting the body with his free arm so that John's face was turned towards him.

Blank. John's eyes were strangely, lifelessly blank. His eyes had stared emptily towards the Doctor as if he was still alive. Yet the Doctor knew he was dead; not just because of the coldness of John's skin against his own, but of the bloodstain that coloured his shirt.

_What has he done?_

He started to cry as he cradled both of John's and Rose's dead bodies. "I'm sorry. I'm so... so sorry..."

Thunder started cracking high above them as the Doctor looked up. No, that was an _unnatural_ weather pattern. Why did he not realise it sooner? A sudden pressure started to press against him as the Doctor hastily got up.

_Everything is falling apart. John was right. Everything is..._

What has he done? He'd become the very thing he didn't want John to turn into. Being corrupt, a ghost of his dark side he thought he buried deep inside of him several incarnations before. What has he done?

He had been ignoring the odd changes around him; because he refused to believe that he could not run from his fate. He started running back towards his own TARDIS as the whole extent of his actions started to crash into his senses. And as he reached the door, his thoughts turned back towards one certain Adelaide Brooks. Her future had changed, and not in a good way. Everything is falling apart; this reality, his own and everywhere else. And it's not something he himself could contain so easily...

xxx

He was back, at the exact spot in front of Adelaide Brooks' home but slightly earlier in the timeline. He turned the TARDIS' invisibility mode on and sneaked into the house as fast as he could manage. Sure enough, as soon as he got himself inside the house the sound of the TARDIS broke the silence.

The Doctor cautiously took a peek from a window as he witnessed his own life replaying itself.

He watched as two of Adelaide's team member hurriedly left the place; his own self, arguing with Adelaide before she stormed towards her own house. The Doctor immediately went into cover as Adelaide walked in.

The woman took out her blaster before turning a glance towards the figure still standing across her own house.

“Time Lord Victorious...” she spat. “I'll show him that you cannot mess with the future; mine, my family's... the whole universe!”

She started aiming the mouth of the blaster towards herself and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

It might be that the blaster had short-circuited during their escape from Bowie Base One. Adelaide gasped in alarm at the thought that she could not _undo_ the mistake the Doctor had done.

Seeing his chance, the Doctor walked out of hiding and grabbed the blaster from the battered woman. Adelaide Brooks stared at him in surprise as she turned to see his doppleganger still standing outside. The Doctor shrugged.

“No time. Had to fix my mistake,” he said as he fixed the blaster with his sonic and shot Adelaide point blank. The sound the blaster made was loud enough that his other self turned his attention towards the house right away. The Doctor smiled as he saw in his mind the restored timeline, with a little bit of alteration.

“Now... things should go as it supposed to be,” he said as he felt himself starting to fade out of existence.

This way, whatever happened before would be undone. His metacrisis-self would not be killed by him as well as Rose; and both of them would be able to live a happy life together. He himself would continue travelling the universe, watching over it at times... and maybe find some other people to accompany him.

Like the way it should. As it was supposed to be.

As the last remnant of the _other_ Doctor disappeared from existence; the Doctor outside turned to see the lone figure that was the Ood Sigma, standing in front of him. Before fleeing into his own TARDIS, not wanting to believe that his end was near.

 


End file.
